Chaz Bono is to marry "within a year"

The 42-year-old star - who was born a woman named Chastity and began gender reassignment surgery around three years ago - revealed he and longterm partner Jennifer Elia have been engaged for a long time and are hoping to tie the knot soon.

Chaz said: "We`ve been engaged actually for two years and have -- kind of had to put things on hold a little bit.

"I would say within a year, definitely. Not to make excuses, but we went through a lot. I transitioned. She went to grad school. Then, you know, we were making the film. And I wrote the book. "It was a lot. Now I feel like once this is over, we can sit down and plan a wedding."

The couple can now officially marry because Chaz is legally considered a man, but he insists he wouldn`t have been comfortable with a civil partnership when it was legalised briefly in California in 2008.